Jeremy Clarkson's most outspoken onscreen moments

The Top Gear presenter's 'execution rant' on BBC One about public sector
strikers has caused uproar but it is not the only time that his remarks have
prompted complaints.

4:45PM GMT 01 Dec 2011

In November 2008 comments made on Top Gear about lorry drivers 'killing prostitutes' provoked fury. Despite complaints to the BBC and Ofcom, and a call from an MP for him to be sacked, the presenter gave only a mock apology on the following week’s show.

Gordon Brown was the next target for Clarkson in February 2009, calling him 'a one-eyed Scottish idiot' in a press conference in Australia. A subsequent apology only referred to comments made about the former prime minister's appearance.

In July 2010, he found himself in trouble for making a joke about a woman in a burka. The joke even upset pop-singer Lily Allen, not known for circumspection, who tweeted that the joke was “distasteful”. The upset even managed to spread around the globe.

He is not alone of course. Along with his Top Gear co-presenters James May and Richard Hammond he was in hot water for remarks made about Mexicans in an episode of Top Gear broadcast in February 2011.

Clarkson predicted the team would not get any complaints because ‘at the Mexican embassy, the ambassador is going to be sitting there with a remote control like this [snores]. They won’t complain, it’s fine.’

Mexican ambassador Eduardo Medina-Mora Icaza promptly complained to the BBC and demanded an apology for the "offensive, xenophobic and humiliating" comments.

However, quick-thinkers did once exact a form of revenge on the outspoken presenter at the Mallorca Classic Car Rally in March 2009.